ACT NOW! Make Permanent the Current EITC and Child Tax Credits

Call 1-800-826-3688 to reach the Capitol switchboard. Your main message should be: Make permanent the current EITC and Child Tax Credit benefit levels along with the rest of the 2001 and 2003 middle-class tax cuts.

You can explain your message further by adding any of the following points:

• The EITC and CTC encourage work. Only working families can claim these benefits.
• If Congress fails to continue the current EITC and CTC benefit levels, 1,540,000 people, including 858,000 children, will fall into poverty.
• EITC and CTC refundable tax credits generate $1.26 worth of economic growth for every additional dollar in benefits. Households spend these tax credits in their local communities.
• Currently, families can count earnings below $13,000 toward the Child Tax Credit. If Congress fails to extend this benefit level, a full-time minimum-wage single parent with two kids will go from receiving a $1,725 credit to only $248.
• The EITC is America’s largest anti-poverty program. In 2009, the EITC lifted 6.6 million people, including 3.3 million children, above the poverty line.

Congress is ready to act on critical tax policy. It’s time now to urge your member of Congress to support low-income working families by making permanent the current Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) benefits, the focus of our 2010 Offering of Letters campaign.

The current EITC and CTC benefits expire along with the rest of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts on December 31. Tell Congress to extend the current EITC and CTC benefits along with the rest of the 2001 and 2003 middle-class tax cuts.

Use this toll-free number, 1-800-826-3688, which will automatically connect you to the Capitol switchboard. Ask for your representative’s or senators’ office so you can leave a message.

If you don't know who your Representative is, just use this finder.